Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Veggie Tray turned Mirepoix Mix

I think I may have mentioned that I like to make soup. A few years ago I discovered Mirepoix Mix in the frozen foods section. Mirepoix is just a mixture of chopped carrots, celery and onions; ingredients you can use in a lot of different soups, pot pies, or stews. I love keeping a a bag or two in the freezer 1.) because it saves a lot of time not having to chop everything and 2.) because I often don't have celery unless I am planning to make soup. However, around the holidays it seems like there's always a party or dinner to go to and I'm bound to make a veggie tray or two. Last time I made a veggie tray, I had a lot of carrot and celery sticks left over. I could have just put them back in the fridge, where inevitably they would get dry and rubbery (or worse slimy) before we remembered to eat them...OR, since most of the chopping was already done, I could just chop up the sticks, add some onions and stock the freezer with my own mirepoix for soup season.

I looked up mirepoix (pronounced meer-pwah, in case you didn't take two years of French) : ), and it traditionally consists of one part carrots, one part celery and two parts onions.

For 1qt. bags I used about 1/2 cup chopped carrots, 1/2 cup chopped celery and 1 cup chopped onions per bag. Press out all the air and freeze, raw.

I will say these did make my freezer smell like onions for a week. But, they worked great, and tasted great. I used all the bags I made within about a month, but I'm sure they would last a couple months. A few minutes of prep makes it so easy to make homemade soup on a busy night. Here's my recipe for homemade turkey or chicken noodle soup, in case you happen to have some leftover turkey this week.

Weeknight Homemade Turkey Soup

- Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a soup pot and sauté 1qt bag of mirepoix
- Add a tsp each of salt, pepper, and ground sage or thyme (or both). I find that adding the seasoning before the liquid gives the soup a better flavor throughout. I also always use dried herbs from our garden and just crush them between my hands, right into the soup. (So I'm approximating 1 tsp)
- After a few minutes of cooking add equal parts chicken stock and water (I usually use a carton of each). Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.
- Add turkey and simmer for at least 30 minutes.
- Add egg noodles 30 minutes before serving. So if you're in a hurry add the turkey and the noodles at the same time. The nice thing about the chopped veggies in the mirepoix is that they cook quickly, which makes any soup doable even in a hurry.

I hope you have a wonderful week of giving thanks, surrounded by people you are thankful for. If you are reading this you, like me, are beyond blessed indeed. We have so much to be thankful for!